Image of US soldier in Afghanistan wins major photo award

AMSTERDAM, Saturday (AFP) - British photographer Tim Hetherington has won the prestigious World Press Photo Award for 2007 with a picture of an exhausted US soldier inside a bunker in Afghanistan, organisers said yesterday.

“This image shows the exhaustion of a man -- and the exhaustion of a nation,” jury chairman Gary Knight said. “We're all connected to this. It's a picture of a man at the end of a line.”Two Agence France-Presse (AFP) photographers were also awarded. Roberto Schmidt, based in Nairobi, won second prize for spot news stories for a photo taken amid recent election-related unrest in Kenya.

This picture of an unidentified US soldier resting in a bunker in the Korengal Valley, Afghanistan, by British photographer Tim Hetherington won the World Press Photo of 2007.

AFP's Miguel Riopa won second prize in the sport features singles category for a picture during the America's Cup in Valencia, Spain. Hetherington, who was on assignment for US magazine Vanity Fair, took his photo on September 16, 2007.

It shows an exhausted young soldier resting inside the Restrepo bunker, which was named for a member of his platoon who had been killed by insurgents. The 2nd Battalion Airborne of the 503rd US infantry was undergoing a deployment in the Korengal Valley, prize organisers said in a statement.

It said the valley was infamous as the site of a downed US helicopter and had seen some of the most intense fighting in the country.“There's a human quality to this picture,” said juror MaryAnne Golon. “It says that conflict is the basis of this man's life.”Hetherington will receive the prize and an award of 10,000 euros (14,500 dollars) at a ceremony on April 27 in Amsterdam.

News categories were once again dominated by instability and conflict zones worldwide, including Afghanistan, the assassination of Benazir Bhutto in Pakistan, unrest in Kenya, and the conflict in the Middle East.